A Look Back at Innovation Daily

Each day, Innovation Daily checks the pulse of global innovation--courtesy of Innovation America. Below, we take a look at a handful of relevant stories compiled from the last week.

Universities Are Missing Out On An Explosive Growth Sector: Their OwnHarvard Business ReviewEducation is on the brink of rapid change that will create a lot of value for innovators. But still sitting on the sidelines? Those who make the decisions and control the purse strings at legacy higher education institutions. One representative example: April’s Education Innovation Summit, where more than 2,000 people energetically discussed how technology and markets are charting the future of education globally. The summit’s organizers claimed that 80 universities were in attendance, but a closer look at the attendee list revealed only a handful of high-level decision makers — and exactly one university endowment. Meanwhile, the halls were filled with hundreds of investors and hundreds more entrepreneurs.

Crowdfunding Growing at a Startling RateEntrepreneurJust a couple of years ago, providing answers to some of the most common questions on crowdfunding was based evenly between limited anecdotal evidence and my gut feelings as an attorney with keen business instincts. But as with any fledgling industry moving towards maturity, more and more data has started to appear that makes answering these questions a bit easier.

Bipartisan Bill Would Help Biotechs Fund ResearchPhilly.comA potential legislative solution to bring in the new capital necessary to fund research at growing companies, the Start-up Jobs and Innovation Act, was introduced at the end of last year by Sens. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) and Pat Toomey (R., Pa.). This bill would create partnership incentives for private investors to fund research and growth at innovative biotech firms and other R&D-intensive small companies.